foreign doors and hugging

I realize today (as midterms approach rapidly) that I have been in Prague over one month now. It’s at that odd place where I feel on one hand like I have been here forever and on the other hand like I just arrived. It depends purely on the moment that I am in. Overall, the cultural adjustment has not been too bad. (remembering of course, that I have been in Prague before) There have been a few adjustments…

1) You push doors open to enter buildings. You pull them to exit. I would estimate that over 80% of doors in the USA operate the opposite way. The first two weeks I was here I chalked up my inability to open doors correctly as part of jet lag.

2) I have work to do ALL THE TIME. This isn’t so much to do with cultural differences as with the fact that I haven’t been in school for a few years. Seldom did I have to think about work past 6 pm on any given day until 8:30 am the next morning. Last night I was up until 1 am trying NOT to listen to Conan O’Brian while I thought about something clever to say about the film “Soy Cuba.” What gets me into serious trouble every fricken time is that when I have copious amounts of work to do I can easily procrastinate by going to see a movie. “It’s important! I need to watch movies! It’s my career!” Though in the end all of my teachers would prefer I do the reading for their class over seeing The Dark Knight.

3) Sushi is expensive! Going out to sushi in the States is a nice night out. Going out to sushi here will involve taking out a second mortgage. However, when last I was in Prague (5 years ago) sushi was nowhere to be had so I am not complaining.

4) Everyone speaks Czech. Duh. But it takes some getting used to. Especially since most of my day takes place in English there is sometimes some cognitive dissonance* to then going to the grocery store and having to mime “chicken”

5) Everyone speaks English. Well, the students and professors in the international program do. I am smack in the middle of an international community where I’m lucky enough that my language is the currency. It means, however, constantly tweaking your ear to understand English from Denmark vs. Bulgaria. Also, as the native speaker every day I get a new “What’s the word in English for this?” Which usually leaves me blank faced.

6) No one here hugs. This one’s not mine. I figured I wasn’t getting hugs because I hadn’t made those types of friendships yet. My new friend and cinematographer just moved back from living in the States ten years and she is having difficulty getting used to the lack of hugging.

So with that my mostly American friends, enjoy your frivolous hugging and of course, the last few days of election mania.


*Manda, that term’s for you!